The phone calls were one after another. The first to an AL executive I greatly respect followed directly afterward by one to an NL executive I feel similarly about. The question was the same: How do the Yankees look after failing to sign Cliff Lee?

AL executive: “The way they are constituted right now, they are one injury to a veteran in their rotation or a bad stretch from CC (Sabathia) from losing their season.”

NL executive: “The Yankees won 95 games last year and Cliff Lee was not on the team. To say the Yankees are worse, why? Just because they lost Andy Pettitte and they might not even lose him? Every year I hear they are too old. We’ll see. I think they will win 95 games again.”

These are the Yankees of late December 2010, that proverbial glass of water: Hall full or half empty, depending on your perception.

These are the Yankees, which means they are criticized as much for not spending their money this offseason as on the spending spree of two years ago that brought Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett. Around the sport, there was shock that they didn’t do what was necessary to sign Lee, such was their short-term, yearning need for a high-end starter.

Twice in five months, the Yankees went so far, but not all the way to land Lee. In July, when their deal in principle with the Mariners fell through, they still might have secured Lee had they been willing to add either Eduardo Nunez or Ivan Nova as the second piece alongside elite prospect Jesus Montero. But GM Brian Cashman determined that price was higher for Lee than either Philadelphia had given Cleveland or Seattle had given Philadelphia in trades with more time left on Lee’s contract.

The Yankees figured even then that in the offseason they would just buy Lee in free agency. But in making the lefty their main priority, the Yankees never followed the shock-and-awe path they did with Sabathia two offseasons earlier. With Sabathia, the Yankees threw the majors’ thickest wallet on the table for the whole sport to see, which essentially translated to: “We will never stop until we get this pitcher.”

With Lee, the Yankees eventually got to a seventh year. But it was a player option for $16 million. They held back from doing the full-CC. Now members of the Yankees organization say that it wouldn’t have mattered because the Lee camp behaved in such a way that suggested the ace would do anything to find his way back to Philadelphia and that the Yankees essentially were a fallback.

Maybe. But like in July, they decided to draw a line that left them short of Lee. And that places them in a perilous position. They need at least one proven starter. Badly. That could be Pettitte. If the veteran lefty shuns retirement yet again, then the club’s rotation is thin, but acceptable as long as there is good health. But without Pettitte, the Yankees’ Nos. 4-5 starters would be Nova and Sergio Mitre.

On a team with a $200 million payroll, Nova and Mitre probably should be the Nos. 6-7 starters; protection against injury, not main pieces.

And exacerbating the situation in the AL East is that though the Yankees have been unable to address their major need, the Red Sox have added Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, plus Bobby Jenks for bullpen depth.

“Right now, they are very far behind the Red Sox,” an NL official said. “I thought the Red Sox were more talented than the Yankees last year, but won 89 games because they had so many injuries. I don’t think the Yankees are facing a doomsday scenario. In fact, I think they make the playoffs. But Yankees vs. Red Sox, I don’t think those teams are close right now.”

The Yankees, of course, would argue. They believe they won 95 last year, but could have won 100 if they did not pull up to get healthy down the stretch. They think they will get better years in 2011 from Burnett, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.

But they went into the offseason with Cashman claiming the focus was “pitching, pitching and pitching,” and they so far have added Pedro Feliciano and possibly lost Pettitte. They whiffed on Lee and are trying to portray a brave face that they can win with what they have. But when I posed the possibility of Nova being a key piece in the rotation, an AL East executive said, “Yeah, and Bubba Crosby is going to play center before they sign Johnny Damon and Jesus Montero is going to catch before they sign Russ Martin. They will do something.”

But what?

Mariners officials have stated they will not trade Felix Hernandez. But I think the Yankees should tell the Mariners that they would do the baseball equivalent of the Herschel Walker deal for Hernandez. From the Lee talks, the Yankees know Seattle likes Montero, Nova, Nunez and David Adams, whose injured ankle helped scuttle the July trade for Lee.

How about those four plus Dellin Betances, who will begin next year at Double-A and is viewed as one of the best pitching prospects in the minors? Seattle would then have a young positional core of Montero at catcher, Justin Smoak (the key from Texas in getting Lee in July) at first, Adams at second, Nunez at short and Arizona Fall League star Dustin Ackley switched from second to left. Nova would be a mid-rotation piece right now with Betances on the come. The Mariners would have six years of control on all of those players plus the money saved from Hernandez’s contract.

But it is not just Mariners officials who feel they can’t trade Hernandez and break further faith with their fans. When I have run concepts like this by Yankees officials, they have thought it is too much to give up. And I think this is a sign the Yankees have gone too far in overvaluing prospects. Hernandez is the best pitcher in the world — and he still is just nine months older than Nova. I would open up the minor league system essentially and tell the Mariners to take what they want.

For now, though, King Felix is off-limits, as are other prime-aged aces such as San Francisco’s Matt Cain, Florida’s Josh Johnson and Detroit’s Justin Verlander. That quartet all would have been free agents after the 2011 season had they not signed long-term deals, which further harms the Yankees’ quest for a No. 1 starter.

Kansas City’s Zack Greinke is available. But the Yankees do not believe he could handle New York emotionally. Matt Garza is tempting and Tampa Bay is one organization unafraid to trade within its division. At 27 and three years from free agency, Garza is attractive and has proven success against the Red Sox. But remember when that was a selling point for Burnett, his ability to beat Boston. There is, in fact, a Burnett-esque quality to Garza: a righty whose results do not honor his elite stuff.

Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona can be had. But who is he? Even in his best seasons, he battles command problems and has the rep of being easily distracted. Could Atlanta’s Derek Lowe — at $15 million per the next two seasons — handle the AL East in his age-38 and 39 campaigns? Could Houston’s Wandy Rodriguez make an effective leap from the weak NL Central to the AL East? The Angels are unwilling to talk any starter, but the fading Scott Kazmir. The White Sox won’t part with John Danks and maybe not even Gavin Floyd now that they are fully going for it in 2011.

In other words, there is not a lot of attractive options now. So do the Yankees try to plug with what they have plus add an innings-eating free agent such as Kevin Millwood or a reclamation project such as Brad Penny and wait for the trade deadline. Remember that three high-end starters — Lee, Roy Oswalt and Dan Haren — were moved last July. One reason the Yankees feel good about the immediate future is that they are blessed with a strong farm system, specifically in starting pitching at the Double- and Triple-A levels. Can that help them weather an early storm and improve in July?

“They have some internal candidates to look at,” an NL personnel man said. “Whether they see how they perform or use them as currency in season, they are rich in that area. Right now, Brian Cashman’s got a good team, even more money than usual because they didn’t sign Lee, and very good prospects. Next time a big prize becomes available, I expect the Yankees will be front and center.”

Who will that midseason prize be? It is as tough to see now as Lee, Oswalt and Haren becoming available at this time last year. Could Seattle change its mind on Hernandez? Could the Cardinals need to clear out money for free-agent-to-be Albert Pujols and deal Chris Carpenter? Heck, maybe Johan Santana gets healthy and new Mets GM Sandy Alderson decides that the two years at $55 million guaranteed beyond the 2011 campaign need to be removed.

At this moment, the Yankees are trying to project patience as they look for a way to thrive after unexpectedly falling off the Cliff.